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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24977956">A chance that you may live</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yukine_TheSoundOfSnow/pseuds/Yukine_TheSoundOfSnow'>Yukine_TheSoundOfSnow</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Angst, One Shot, Short Story, Time Travel, no happy ending</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 01:27:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,549</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24977956</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yukine_TheSoundOfSnow/pseuds/Yukine_TheSoundOfSnow</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>This time, Sai would give Shin a chance to live. By any means necessary.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A chance that you may live</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Cross-posted on ffnet.</p><p>I wondered what Sai would do if he was shot in the past, and this is what I came up with.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When all that rested for Sai was dying, he thought of his brother. His brother, who had sacrificed himself for him. He may not have been his by blood, but he had still been his brother in all that mattered.</p><p>I'm sorry, he thought. Shin. I tried living, I took the chance that you gave me. I fought for my friends, but it wasn't enough. I'm sorry I wasted it.</p><p>Silent tears rolled down the sides of his face and dripped on the rocks. The moon shone down at the earth, it's glare mockingly bright. The dreaded moon, a tool that would be used to impose a genjutsu everywhere it's light touched.</p><p>Sai's sight started to get dark around the edges, darker and darker until the only thing he saw was the dreaded white orb. Naruto would fight for it, he was sure. Naruto would save them all.</p><p>Shin, Sai thought, I hope I'll see you soon. Shin's smile seemed to shine down on him, brighter than the moon, when Sai lost the light in his eyes.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>MOVE! Sai's instincts screamed at him, and he rolled away from the strike of a Tanto. He felt light-headed and disoriented, so he let his instincts take over without hesitating and lunged for the person that had attacked him. He swung the tanto that he somehow held in his own hands down at a bare neck full power, but then his mind registered the small size of the neck he was aiming for, and all he could do was stop his momentum as much as he could. A child. Sai's blade drew blood from the thin throat still, but a heartbeat proved that it was not something he would die of. The one attacking him was just a child.</p><p>A dull-eyed child, wearing the uniform of one of Danzo's recruits. He touched the bloodied stripe on his throat and moved his hands toward his face. The boy's eyes started to get wet although he visibly tried to keep the tears in. Emotion, after all, was not tolerated in Danzo's army of Shinobi.</p><p>Sai's head started to clear, and he felt the presence of a man that should be dead walking towards him. Danzo. The councilman stopped beside them. "Get up," he said, and Sai felt himself obeying. He should not be afraid of a man that had sealed him, that had forced him to research in books what came naturally to others, but it was hard. He had not been there when Danzo was killed, had not seen it with his own eyes, but he knew Naruto had done it. Naruto would not lie to deceive him, would not have told him the councilman was dead if it weren't truly so.</p><p>It was at that moment that Sai got a terrible feeling of wrongness. Danzo, who had first been only a head taller than him, now towered above him. Naruto, he realized. The war. I died. I died trying to stop a madman from putting a genjustu on us all. And although the thought that this was the afterlife did shoot through his head, Sai was a practical person. A simple check told him that he still had his chakra, and that his seal existed. If this were the afterlife, surely the seal would not be there.</p><p>"Go get that patched up," Danzo said looking at the boy with a slashed throat. "And you," he said turning his head toward Sai. "Find another sparring partner."</p><p>Sai wanted nothing more than to attack Danzo, than freeing himself of the seal and go find Naruto, but he did not. He had realized he was a child himself. Danzo would overpower him without batting an eyelash, and activate his seal to kill him. So he said nothing, bowed to Danzo, and went to find another sparring partner.</p><p> </p><p>When he returned to the barracks that night, he saw him. Shin. His smile was just like he remembered. Happiness welled up inside him, pure joy in a way that not even team 7 could let him feel. He had to do everything to not let himself cry. If he were to cry, it would certainly be noticed and he would be made an example of.</p><p>But Shin somehow sensed that Sai was not himself, and asked him if he was okay. Sai could not stop his eyes from watering.</p><p>Shin's eyes widened, and he lifted his hand towards Sai, but Sai turned around, wiped an arm over his eyes and got himself together. Compassion, after all, was forbidden in ROOT. Sai would not let Shin be punished by Danzo just because Shin had wanted to help him, because he had slipped and let himself feel. He got himself together and turned to Shin again.</p><p>"I'm okay," Sai said to Shin, Sai's mouth showing just the barest hint of a smile.</p><p>"So you are," Shin answered, and Sai remembered. At this point in time he didn't really smile. He had only had fake smiles, smiles that he had copied from others.</p><p>They didn't speak after that, but they never had in the past. Sai just basked in the company of his beloved brother. The nightmares with the horrors of war didn't plague him that night. In his dreams it was just Shin. Alive, breathing, smiling.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Sai trained, ate, slept and overall got acquainted with the rhythm of ROOT again. During one of the few times they were allowed to go outside, for training in infiltration, he got to see Konoha. Konoha as it was before Pein destroyed it. There he caught a glimpse of the Sandaime, in his white and red Hokage robes. That was the moment he truly realized that he probably had time-traveled somehow, which meant that past events would happen again in the future.</p><p>He had not let his thoughts stray towards Shin's death, but now he couldn't avoid it any longer.</p><p>I can save him, he realized. Shin could take my place. I did not do anything in the future that Shin can't do in my stead.</p><p>So, when Sai saw Shin again that night, he decided</p><p>I won't let him die this time. I will protect him.</p><p> </p><p>The day of the test came all too soon, on a day too sunny for such a grave occasion. Or perhaps it was a good occasion for the sun to shine. He was going to save Shin after all.</p><p>He walked in the testing grounds and saw Danzo standing in the arena, watching him and Shin with one black eye.</p><p>"Only one of you is allowed to enter ROOT. The other must die," Danzo said. He turned around and left, his cane ticking on the stones.</p><p>As before, Shin goaded Sai, trying to anger him into attacking. Sai, however, did not rise to Shin's bait. Not this time. He knew Shin would never hurt him. Shin had died for him after all. Previously, he had received time to live from Shin, a sacrifice that his brother made for him. Now, he was the one that would make sure his brother was given the time he deserved.</p><p>They fought. Sai only used attacks that he knew Shin could block, but was nonetheless extremely careful not to use any strikes that he couldn't stop himself should Shin decide he was going to let Sai strike him down. It didn't come to that. Sai saw it when Shin deliberately lowered his guard, and he came at Shin with a stab of his sword. But before Sai's attack could hit flesh, he deliberately misstepped and let himself fall on Shin's sword, letting his own clatter harmlessly on the ground.</p><p>The world seemed to stand still for a heartbeat. Then Shin's face twisted.</p><p>"Sai…" Shin said, choking.</p><p>Sai coughed up blood. He was hit in the lung, he realized, and would not have long to live.</p><p>"Shin," Sai whispered as Shin threw his knees on the ground and put his shaking hands on the place where the sword hit Sai's body.</p><p>"No-'' Shin said, his voice hoarse from tears.</p><p>"I was the one - I was supposed to-" But Shin knew it was too late as well as Sai did.</p><p>"Shin," Sai whispered again, more desperate now, and finally Shin looked at his face. Shin put his hands on Sai's cheeks, two beacons of warmth on the deadly pale of his cheeks. Sai coughed once more, blood from his lungs joining the red from his wound already on Shin's hands. When Sai spoke again, his voice was soft and hoarse, cracking and squeaking from the lack of air.</p><p>"Y- You gave me-" More coughing, more blood Joining Shin's hands.</p><p>"-a chance to live. Now I return the favor."</p><p>"No…" Shin said. He was shaking his head, tears dripping down his face, splattering on Sai. "Sai. Don't die. You can't-"</p><p>But Sai felt the world getting dark for the second time. This time would be the last. But Shin would be happy, this time. This time, Shin would get the chance. Maybe he would do better. Fight next to Naruto, instead of dying behind him.</p><p>"Live," Sai simply said, one word somehow containing all his hopes and dreams for his beloved brother, and then his eyes faded and he truly left the world.</p>
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